(Book 3) After returning to Emerald without Cole, L and Roddy are forced to adjust to life inside pack walls for the first time in over a decade. With Cole's life on the line and the Council after L to pay for her botched execution, tensions are hig...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A/N: If you read Sapphire Bones before it was revised, then you haven't read the revised version of the chapter 'Violate'. It has been amended and a major point has been removed, and the chapter has been renamed to 'Stubborn'. I'd recommend going back and reading the new chapter before diving into this, however its not necessary. What L says in this chapter is truthful and she leaves nothing out.
________________
Dread constricted my lungs as I followed Corvo up the stairs. I knew this conversation was coming, and I knew I was ready for it yet the weight of everything that's happened wound its way around my throat and squeezed. Corvo deserved to know. He had been nothing short of supporting and a crutch when I needed him. He sacrificed everything for me. His family, his friends, his position, his relationship with the Council. All for me. He deserved to know, and I was finally going to tell him.
"You okay?" A voice pulled me from my thoughts and I slammed to a stop before I smacked into the person. I hadn't realized we'd reached the third floor; I blindly followed Corvo while my mind sprinted in weaving mazes. I looked up at him and nodded, a small smile finding its way to my lips.
"Just in my head," I shrugged. Corvo didn't respond, instead pushed the door open to his – our – room and found the bed where he sat, his elbows on his knees. I came to rest beside him, one leg tucked under me while the other dangled off the bed. Lifting my palm to his cheek, I cupped his jaw. A torch of heat flooded my skin and sank into my pores making me shiver but I didn't pull away.
"I love you," Corvo spoke toward the floor. "If you don't want to tell me I wouldn't blame you." When he finally looked up, his movement forced my hand away. I met his gaze and gave him my best smile but even he saw through it.
"You deserve to know, and I've wanted to for a long time but every time I go to speak it's like my throat seizes. If I don't speak now I don't know when the next chance will be." He nodded at my response and took my hand in his much larger one, our fingers tangled together as he held them in his lap. "I need you to promise me something, though," I added causing him to bring his gaze back to my eyes from our hands.
"What kind of promise?" His voice wavered on uncertainty, and I couldn't blame him for that but I needed this from him.
"No matter what I say, or what happened you cannot blame Cole. The two of you are friends and I will not come between that. What happened at Graphite was because of the drugs. Cole was... on another plane and nothing Roddy or I did brought him back," I paused, bringing in a deep breath I needed to get through the looming conversation. "He's already distraught over this. He hates himself for what happened and I won't allow you to hate him too."
"What did he do?" Corvo's voice was sharp.
"Promise me first. I won't tell you unless I know you won't hate him."
